It is well known that an image of a face can be photographed by using a digital camera. Also, it is a common practice to adjust colors of a photographed image by means of a photo retouching software program, etc. or use the image for creation of another image on a personal computer.
Meanwhile, there exist various kinds of digital cameras equipped with the capability of automatically performing such image adjustments and apparatus for producing photographic prints.
Disclosed in a document 1 (Japanese Patent Laying-open No. H10-255066) is a method of modifying an image of a face for the purpose of producing a face image with makeup. By inputting a target indicating what kind of face is desired to be finally prepared by applying a makeup, a plurality of images are produced and displayed, from an image of an actually photographed face that is modified step-by-step toward the desired face.
A document 2 (Japanese Patent Laying-open No. 2002-281326) discloses an image photographing apparatus with the function of performing color correction for optimal skin tone in an identification photograph. A prescribed color conversion is performed on a photographed image, and it is determined whether or not the hues of the color-converted image fall within a prescribed color tone. If the hues are out of the prescribed color tone, the color conversion is automatically repeated to correct the colors of the image so that they falls within the prescribed color tone range.
A document 3 (Japanese Patent Laying-open No. 2000-261650) discloses an image processing apparatus in which, when photographing the upper body of a person, the brightness of the face image is corrected so as to be equal to a predetermined standard value.
Thus, in the documents 1 to 3, the color tone of image of a person's face is automatically adjusted to obtain a desired image of the face which is modified or made up, or an image with skin color or of brightness best suited for an identification photograph.
Meanwhile, a document 4 (Japanese Patent Laying-open No. 2004-46793) discloses an image processing system which makes it possible to, by photographing a person's face and inputting some additional feature data, compose a virtual three-dimensional character to which a photographed image of the face is pasted and which has a body shape based on the feature data.
However, the color adjustment of an image with the use of a photo retouching software program requires technical knowledge of brightness and color tones and makes operations more complicated. In addition, the documents 1 to 3 concentrate attention on how a photographed face image can be adjusted automatically and accurately. Thus, they have no factor that makes it possible to modify the colors of a photographed face image in a simple, easy and amusing manner. Moreover, according to the documents 1 to 3, it is impossible to modify a photographed image of a face having some features to another image of a face having absolutely different features in a simple and easy way.
Meanwhile, according to document 4, a three-dimensional character containing a photographed face image is produced by photographing a person's face and inputting related feature data. This makes it possible to create a character of unexpected body shape based on the input related characteristics data, but does not modify the face image in such a manner as to match the body shape.
One illustrative embodiment provides an image processing apparatus with image sensing capability and a storage medium storing an image processing program, which makes it possible to modify colors of a photographed image in a simple and easy manner just by photographing an image and inputting a characteristic to be added to the image.
Another illustrative embodiment provides an image processing apparatus with image sensing capability and a storage medium storing an image processing program, which makes it possible to modify colors of a photographed image of a face in a simple and easy manner just by photographing an image of a face and inputting a characteristic to be added to the face image.
A further illustrative embodiment provides an image processing apparatus with image sensing capability and a storage medium storing an image processing program, which makes it possible to enjoy variations of an image by changing colors of the image according to an input characteristic.
Another illustrative embodiment provides an image processing apparatus with image sensing capability and a storage medium storing an image processing program This makes it possible to change colors of an image in a very simple and easy manner just by selecting characteristic data prepared in advance.
An image processing apparatus with image sensing capability according to an illustrative embodiment comprises an operating means, an image sensing means, a display means, an image-sensed data temporary storage means, a still image storage means, a photographing means, a characteristic input means, an image modification pattern storage means, an image modification pattern selection means, an image modification means, and a modified image display means. The operating means is intended for a user to perform operation input. The image sensing means includes an image sensing device and is intended to photograph an image. The display means displays at least the image photographed by the image sensing means. The image-sensed data temporary storage means temporarily stores image-sensed data input from the image sensing means. The still image storage means stores as a still image the image-sensed data input from the image sensing means. The photographing means stores in the still image storage means the image-sensed data stored in the image-sensed data temporary storage means when prescribed operation input is performed from the operating means. The characteristic input means makes a user, corresponding to the still image stored by the photographing means, input at least one characteristic related to the still image. The image modification pattern storage means stores a plurality of image modification pattern data containing a change amount associated with each pixel of the still image stored by the photographing means and for modifying color data of the pixel. The image modification pattern selection means selects at least one image modification pattern data corresponding to at least the one characteristic input by the characteristic input means. The image modification means modifies color data of the still image stored in the still image storage means based on at least the one image modification pattern data selected by the image modification pattern selection means. The modified image display means displays on the display means the still image modified by the image modification means.
More specifically, an image processing apparatus with image sensing capability (10: reference numeral. The same is applied to the following numerals.) includes an operating means (20) for a user (100) to perform operation input. An image sensing means (30) includes an image sensing device and is intended to photograph an image. A display means (18) displays at least an image photographed by the image sensing means. An image-sensed data temporary storage means (86, S3) stores image-sensed data input from the image sensing means. A still image storage means (96) stores as a still image the image-sensed data input from the image sensing means. A photographing means (32, 68, S7, S9) stores in the still image storage means the image-sensed data stored in the image-sensed data temporary storage means when prescribed operation input is performed from the operating means. A characteristic input means (32, 76, 106, S13, S15, S23) makes the user, corresponding to the still image stored by the photographing means, input at least one characteristic related to the still image. An image modification pattern storage means (94) stores a plurality of image modification pattern data containing a change amount associated with each pixel of the still image stored by the photographing means and for modifying color data of the pixel. An image modification pattern selection means (32, 78, S17) selects at least one image modification pattern data corresponding to at least one characteristic input by the characteristic input means. An image modification means (32, 80, S19) modifies color data of the still image stored in the still image storage means based on at least one image modification pattern data selected by the image modification pattern selection means. A modified image display means (32, 38, 46, 82, S25) displays on the display means a still image (114) modified by the image modification means.
Thus, by making the user input a characteristic, color of a photographed image of a face, for example, is modified on the basis of an image modification pattern corresponding to the characteristic, which makes it possible to modify the image with addition of the characteristic in a simple and easy manner. Also, since a modified image of the face, for example, is displayed, it is possible to have fun seeing how the image has been modified by the input characteristic.
An illustrative embodiment may further include a characteristic data storage means (90) for storing a plurality of characteristic data related to the characteristic in advance. The characteristic input means makes the user select a plurality of characteristic data from the characteristic data stored in the characteristic data storage means. The image modification pattern selection means selects a plurality of image modification pattern data corresponding to the plurality of characteristic data selected by the characteristic input means. The image modification means modifies color data of the still image based on the plurality of image modification pattern data selected by the image modification pattern selection means. The modified image display means displays a final still image modified by the image modification means based on all the plurality of image modification pattern data.
Therefore, since the characteristic data are prepared in advance and the user can modify the colors of a photographed image of a face, for example, just by selecting such characteristic data, it is possible to modify the image in a simpler and easier manner. Also, prior preparation of the characteristic data allows the user to select some unexpected characteristic data, whereby realizing image processing of more entertaining nature. Additionally, a plurality of characteristic data are selected by the user and an image modified on the basis of all the plurality of corresponding image modification patterns is finally displayed. Thus, the final image may appear suddenly in a state to be subjected to greater-than-expected modifications with the plurality of characteristic data, resulting in enhancement of entertainment values.
In one illustrative embodiment, an exemplary image modification pattern storage means stores a plurality of image modification pattern data containing an increasing/decreasing value associated with all pixels of the still image and for relatively increasing or decreasing color data of the pixels, corresponding to all the plurality of characteristic data stored in the characteristic data storage means. Therefore, the image modification patterns defining a relatively increasing/decreasing amount of color data of each pixel are prepared in advance for each plurality of characteristic data, which makes it possible to modify an image only by performing a relative adding or subtracting operation on color data of each pixel. This makes available an image modification capability with less processing burden.
In another illustrative embodiment, an exemplary characteristic input means makes the user select the characteristic data using a word expressive of the characteristic. Consequently, a characteristic to be added to a photographed image of a face, for example, is supposed to be selected by a word or an expression describing the characteristic, and the user thus cannot know how the image will be specifically modified at a time of selection. Therefore, the user can experience effects of the plurality of selected characteristics only after seeing the displayed final image. This improves amusing and entertaining properties of image modification with addition of characteristics.
A storage medium storing an image processing program according to an illustrative embodiment is a storage medium storing an image processing program for performing image processing in an image processing apparatus which comprises at least an operating means for a user to perform operation input, an image sensing means including an image sensing device for photographing an image, a display means for displaying the image photographed by the image sensing means, a program processing means, an image data storage means, and an image modification pattern storage means for storing a plurality of image modification pattern data containing a change amount associated with each pixel of data of the image photographed by the image sensing means for modifying color data of the pixel. This image processing program causes a processor of the image processing apparatus to execute an image-sensed data temporary storage step, a photographing step, a characteristic input step, an image modification pattern selection step, an image modification step, and a modified image display step. The image-sensed data temporary storage step temporarily stores image-sensed data input from the image sensing means in the image data storage means. The photographing step stores as a still image the image-sensed data stored by the image-sensed data temporary storage step, in another area of the image data storage means when prescribed operation input is performed from the operating means. The characteristic input step makes the user, corresponding to the still image stored by the photographing step, input at least one characteristic related to the still image. The image modification pattern selection step selects at least the one image modification pattern data corresponding to at least one characteristic input by the characteristic input step. The image modification step modifies color data of the still image stored in the image data storage means, based on at least the one image modification pattern data selected by the image modification pattern selection step. The modified image display step displays on the display means the still image modified by the image modification step.
The storage medium storing the image processing program makes it possible to modify a photographed image of a face, for example, in a simple and easy manner as well as the above described image processing apparatus with image sensing capability.
The input of characteristic data modifies colors of a photographed image of a face, for example, based on the image modification pattern corresponding to the data. This allows an image to be modified in a simple and easy manner with addition of characteristic(s). Moreover, since the modified image is displayed, it is possible to have fun seeing how the photographed image is modified by the input characteristics.
The above described aspects the illustrative embodiments will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiments when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.